


arena

by orphan_account



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gen, for secret santa 2k18, i hope this didn't stray too far from your expectations, written at 3am cause how else will u write
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-05
Updated: 2019-01-05
Packaged: 2019-10-04 22:37:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17313134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Gladiators in space.





	arena

When the clock started ticking, Lance was the first to stand up.

“Time.”  
  
Keith scuffed his shoe against the dirt, until there was something that vaguely resembled a map. “Close?”  

There was a bandana tying his hair back. If Lance had seen him like this _before_ , he would’ve nudged a shoulder against him and laughed. But it wasn’t the same now. There was no time. There’s no-

Time to think like this.

Lance counted the seconds in his head. “Five minutes, maybe. If I’m not wrong.”

He’d never been wrong before. But again, there’s a first time for everything; but again, if he was wrong about this they’d be dead. They were utterly fucked. He clutched the gun in his hand a little tighter at the thought.

They _had_ to live. They had to find a way to get out of this hellhole, they had to find the other paladins somehow. Before Lance and Keith die in here.

(For some godforsaken reason, out of all the places he could’ve been accidentally wormholed to, Lance got teleported to the most dystopian of alien societies. It was supposed to be one of their final missions. But they were tired, Allura was tired, and-)

And now they were here. Keith and Lance, neck and neck, gladiators in space. They’ve tried to escape so, so many times. But there was no way out of here once Allura’s wormhole had closed, there were force fields everywhere- they learned this the hard way when Keith broke the glass and ended up knocked out for hours. 

They’re stuck in here until Allura finds them.

The ticking got louder. Lance couldn’t take it.

Lance jerked his head at Keith. “Punch me.”  
  
It was routine by now. Keith did it without question. Every time Lance got one of those stupid flashbacks, he needed the sting to bring him back to reality. It woke him up. They knew each other so well by now it didn’t take more than a few words for them to communicate.

They had no other option. An unnecessary word in here, it could mean the difference between life or death.

“Hey,” Keith said, softer than Lance has ever heard before. “You’re alright. We’re fine.”

Lance breathed in, clinging onto Keith’s words. They’d be fine. They were partners in here, they’d faced death together again and again.

Keith nudged him. He’s trying his best to be a distraction, bless his heart. “Do you hear that?”  
  
Lance did. They always hear it.

There’s a rhythmic stomping that starts in the countdown and doesn’t stop until someone’s dead. Always. Lance still hadn’t figured out where it came from. Maybe the alien crowd, maybe.

The first time he woke up in here alone with Keith and a dagger in his hand and heard the noise, he was terrified. It made him feel like he was part of something big but in a bad way, like he was giving a speech in front of everyone important in the Garrison and getting laughed at by the older kids. 

Lance _hated_ public speaking.

But now, his heart raced along to the boom of the arena’s noise. His knees were shaking, but it’s somehow a little less scary with someone familiar by his side at least. 

“Four minutes.”

The crowd roared.

It’s cruelty at its finest. It’s humanity, it’s all the things they’ve learnt in history, before they were flung onto the other side of the glass.

They’ve tried. When they’re not in the arena, Lance kneels and he begs for forgiveness from whoever’s listening out here in space. He didn’t want to hurt people, he never signed up for this.

He just wanted to see the stars.

And now, instead, Lance went from shooting evil purple aliens to killing- _other_ kinds of not-so-bad aliens.  

They’ve tried not killing at first, but the others- it’s like they want to die, or die trying. Lance’s first kill was an accident when he held out the dagger and the alien just didn’t stop running, and impaled itself on it.

Keith said that it got easier from there, once you realise it’s a matter of survival and they’re not going to stop trying to kill you.

He’s right. Lance wasn’t the same kid from the Garrison. He’s harder now, a little more rough ‘round the edges. He’s killed things. People. Aliens. Never the same species, never things they know, but Lance _swore_ he saw fear in their eyes right before he shot them in the face with the gun he nicked from a dead body.

Keith’s the same way. But seeing things had made his words a little less sharp, it’s made him more careful and it’s a welcome change.

The clock continued ticking. Lance hated the noise with a burning passion.

The force fields around them started to flicker. The aliens always show them a picture of their opponent when there was a minute to go. The clock starts ticking at 5 minutes, Lance starts dissociating at 3. He swore he could feel their opponents’ fear, but Keith said that it’s a purple alien furry thing somehow, respect by paying tribute to death.

So Lance forced himself to look. And to remember, to carry the deaths on his back forever

This time, it’s someone that looks familiar.

Lance squinted.

White hair. Prosthetic arm.

Scar on his face. 

And the final two paladins were behind Shiro. Lance’s childhood friends, looking as terrified as Keith and Lance felt when they first arrived.

Lance almost laughed out loud. “Allura tried to find us, Keithy. She didn’t give up, we were right.”  
  
He dropped the gun.

Keith looked him in the eyes. They came to a silent agreement. 

“We’re not going to survive this.” Keith said. Tiredness in his voice, fire in his steps and when he pushed Lance away from the edge of the force field, a little too rough. There’s a dagger still in his hand, a just-in-case they didn’t die fast enough.

Lance looked into the abyss, closed his eyes, and breathed in the smell of Keith for the last time. “We’re not going to kill them.”

The gate opened.

 

**Author's Note:**

> press f
> 
> (also this whole thing is based off the place in player vs player games where you wait to kill people? if that makes sense.)


End file.
